A decision-forcing staff ride looks a lot like a decision-forcing case. However, while students work through decision-forcing cases in classrooms, decision-forcing staff rides take place in the location where the protagonist was faced with the problem at hand. That location could be a historic building, a scenic overlook, or a ship that has been turned into a museum. In most instances, however, that place will a properly preserved battlefield.
In the twenty-teens I often conducted decision-forcing staff rides at Chatham Manor, Virginia, a large house, maintained by the National Park Service, that sits on a ridge overlooking the city of Fredericksburg, the site of a battle fought during the American Civil War.
At the time of the battle, the manor, then called the Lacy House, offered the commander of the attacking Union forces, Ambrose E. Burnside, with an excellent view of his objective, the Confederate army in, and just west of, Fredericksburg. The hill also provided firing positions for some of the heavier guns in the Union artillery park and observation posts for the officers in charge of them.
In some of the staff rides I conducted at Chatham House, participants took on the role of General Burnside. In others, they stepped into the shoes of Henry Hunt, the senior gunner of the Army of the Potomac. In both versions of the exercise, I asked the same sort of questions I would have asked in an indoor decision-forcing case - ‘what is going on here?’ and ‘what, Sir, is your plan?’
Likewise, after listening to answers, paraphrasing the main points, and asking followup questions, I provided participants with the decision made by the real-world protagonist and the results that followed. Otherwise known as ‘the rest of the story’, this historical solution set the stage for a subsequent cycle of problems, solutions, and discussion.
The person conducting a decision-forcing staff ride requires all of the skills involved in the effective presentation of a decision-forcing case. He must be able set the scene for participants, use cold-calling to enforce participation, ask questions in an open ended way, and paraphrase answers in a way that draws out the assumptions that support each solution. In addition to this, he needs to know the best vantage points, how to arrange for access to the battlefield, and the location of suitable restrooms.
The final skill ensuring physical and moral comfort for the participants which secures scheduling of future staff rides.
Brilliant and entertaining as always!
“In addition to this, he needs to know the best vantage points, how to arrange for access to the battlefield, and the location of suitable restrooms.” Always be prepared, always be practical!